


Coral Confessional

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Romance, TARDIS Coral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:45:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: Tentoo gets caught talking to the TARDIS coral.





	Coral Confessional

**Author's Note:**

> For DRP, a Nonny prompt: Tentoo and Rose arrived in Pete's World just a few days ago and are still adapting. While he's working on their new TARDIS, he starts talking about some insecurities and distracted, didn't realize that Rose arrived home. So of course she assures him that everything will be alright.  
> https://doctorroseprompts.tumblr.com/post/171641401933/hello-a-fluffly-prompt-tentoo-and-rose-arrived

Tuesday. He’d always found Tuesdays unremarkable. None of the fresh promise of Mondays or the laziness of Saturdays or the anticipation of Thursdays. Not that it had mattered much until this past week. Usually he was free to flit about from Friday to Wednesday and back again as much as he liked. Well. As much as the laws of time allowed, and even then he was never one to play by the rules.  

Last week, he had arrived with Rose in this universe. Pete’s World, as he once christened it. The following days had been heavy ones, full of shopping and paperwork (apparently an official identity was not optional), and being shown around Rose and Pete’s Torchwood. He still refused to join as an _employee_ , but he was happy to serve as a “full-time consultant” if it meant access to all the gadgets and tech and intergalactic diplomacy and holding Rose’s hand as they ran around finding trouble. It wasn’t unlike the old days, she promised, but first they needed to wait for all of the paperwork to go through. In the meantime, he acquired the necessary parts to start the TARDIS coral’s growth in Jackie and Pete’s garden shed until they could find a house of their own, and Rose went to work to disassemble the dimension cannon.

It made him anxious to be away from her so soon, but it also made his heart warm in a funny way that she felt the same. She texted him to check in and came home for lunch and kissed him before she left again.

The TARDIS coral let out a mental purr as he arranged the incubator. He smiled a bit and petted her even as doubt crept into his thoughts. Sure he had his telepathy, but he didn’t have the physiology of a Time Lord anymore. No more regenerations or little tricks. A cloud of anxiety settled into his heart. He couldn’t take the same risks he used to when he had lives to spare, especially lately when he hadn’t particularly cared whether he lived or not. He’d been willing to sacrifice himself too frequently. But finding Rose had changed everything. The minute she started running toward him, it was all different. He had forgotten what she had taught him about life being worthwhile, but no more.

Then, of course, the Dalek’s missed shot set off the chain of events that led to him now crouching over an aquarium with a telepathic infant time machine between Pete’s lawn mower and boxes of Christmas decorations.

The what-ifs began to pile up, stalling on Rose, always Rose.

He muttered to the TARDIS, telling himself it was good for the coral to feel less alone but honestly needing an outlet to process aloud. Had it not been for Rose’s reappearance, he wouldn’t have done something so foolishly vain as a partial regeneration. This version of him wouldn’t exist. Christ, she was even the reason he existed in this form in the first place. He’d regenerated from his ninth self specifically to be her type, to please her. What if she came to resent him? She said she understood and it had been her choice to kiss this him, to choose him, but what if someday she regretted her choice? Her devastation as the original TARDIS faded on that beach had been clear.

Something creaked behind him, but he was too caught up in his work connecting tubes and wires to the coral’s incubator so he didn’t notice.

“And! _What if_ the awkwardness of getting to know each other again is more than that, hm?” he asked the TARDIS, waving his (formerly backup) sonic screwdriver around. “What if it’s a sign things won’t ever be the same as they were? What if that’s not what she wants?”

“It’s not what I want,” came a voice from behind him. He jumped and removed his safety goggles, mussing his hair even more than it had been from his hand running through it.

“Rose!” he sputtered. She walked toward him, and he had the sense to stand and meet her halfway.

“I don’t want what we had before,” she repeated, draping her arms over his shoulders, which seemed very much like a mixed signal if he ever saw one.

“What do you want?” he blurted out, once again letting his gob go before his brain could stop it.

“You.” She smiled, but it faded as she sighed. “I want more than being traveling companions and introducing each other as _friends_ and chaste goodnight kisses that never turn into more. I want more than hand holding only when we’re running or scared or forget we’re not like that. I want it to mean something when we share a bed, not just because we’ve been apart, but because we’re _together_.”

The Doctor gaped at her honesty, the words in his brain all turning to mush at having his hopes so clearly articulated.

“That alright?” She searched his eyes for comprehension, especially of what she meant by _together_.

“Yeah,” he half-exhaled half-laughed. He tugged her into a quickly escalating kiss and wrapped his arms around her as she melted into him.

“Good,” she giggled as they parted, breathless.  

“Yep! Good. More is good.” He nodded, making her grin even wider and shake her head at him. She reached up to fix his hair, and it all felt so perfectly domestic, he could hardly believe it was real.

The TARDIS sent a mental chirp that even Rose could sense. Wide-eyed, they gasped at the sensation and turned to the coral to give her the attention she wanted. Rose settled in beside the Doctor for the remainder of the afternoon, chatting and helping him and building her connection with the TARDIS as he had been doing. It was just like the old days in some ways, but in others, it was a brand new adventure. Together.

 


End file.
